Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will request that the Office of Fair Trading investigates the level of competition in the car insurance industry.

The competition powers of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) passed to the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on 1 April 2014. Like the OFT, the CMA is an independent authority, and therefore has complete discretion to investigate those cases, which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate.

In the case of the private motor insurance industry, the CMA is already conducting a market investigation, and on 12 June set out for consultation its proposed changes to the market. These include a cap on the charges to the insurer of an at-fault driver in an accident for the cost of providing a replacement vehicle to the non-fault driver; better information for consumers; and a ban on price parity agreements between price comparison websites and insurers. Further details are available via this link to the CMA press release:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-sets-out-changes-for-private-motor-insurance